Clinical Focus

We have experience helping families deal with a wide-range of problems, including, but not limited to the following:

Adjustment Disorders

Adjustment reactions occur in response to an identifiable stressor and can involve anxiety, depression, and conduct disturbances. In children, these types of reactions can be seen in response to a divorce or separation, loss, geographical relocations, etc. Children can benefit from receiving help that focuses on the development of coping strategies that enable them to deal with the stress more effectively.

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety is a normal emotion, but when it becomes frequent, severe, or limits a child’s normal activities, you should consult a mental health professional. Common types of anxiety disorders include those that involve intense, discrete periods of fear or discomfort and symptoms like rapid heartbeat, dizziness (i.e. panic disorder), etc; excessive fear of places, things, or activities (i.e. closed spaces, bridges, public speaking, leaving the house; phobias); or pervasive, long-term anxiety that shifts from one issue to another (i.e. generalized anxiety disorder).

ADHD

ADHD is a commonly seen issue, one that typically leads parents to seek professional help. Primary symptoms include an inability to pay attention and focus in school or in play, an inability to listen, a tendency to become distracted, fidgeting, an inability to sit still, and impulsivity. Psychotherapy and medications have been proven to be helpful in many cases.

Communication Disorders

Children with these problems experience difficulties in expressive (i.e. limited vocabulary, difficulty producing sentences) and/or receptive language (difficulty understanding words and sentences.) Neuropsychological and learning assessments can help identify the underlying causes of the problem, as well as solutions to help the child overcome the difficulty.

Conduct Disorder

Symptoms involve a pattern of behavior in which the rights of others are violated (i.e. the child bullies, fights, steals, breaks rules, or destroys property).

Depression

Depressive disorders vary in intensity but typically involve sad or depressed mood, sleep disturbances, weight gain/loss, and low self-esteem. These difficulties can lead to disruptions in social relationships, a loss of pleasure, and a lack of interest in normal activities including school activities.

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are characterized by disturbances in eating behavior. In anorexia nervosa, there is an intense fear of becoming fat and a significant loss of body weight. In bulimia, one sees a pattern of binge eating that is often associated with compensatory attempts to prevent weight gain including vomiting, etc.

Learning Disorders

Learning disorders are diagnosed when a child or adolescent performs substantially below what is expected for his/her age in reading, writing, or math. The first step in addressing the problem is to conduct a thorough assessment to identify the underlying problem(s). Remediation efforts can then be targeted to fit the developmental needs of the child.

Oppositional Defiant  Disorder

This disorder involves a pattern of hostile and defiant behavior. Symptoms include defiant, spiteful, or vindictive behavior, temper tantrums, active defiance of rules and the requests of adults, etc.

Separation Anxiety

Children and adolescents that have a separation or attachment disorder experience distress/anxiety when they are separated from their home or primary attachment figures. This can involve a reluctance to go to school, repeated nightmares involving themes of separation, and complaints of physical symptoms (i.e. stomachache) when separations are anticipated.

Alcohol And Substance Use

Substance use disorders involve the inappropriate use of a variety of substances including alcohol and other drugs such as amphetamine, cocaine, cannabis, etc. Long-term use can cause medical problems and disrupt peer and family relationships and school and work activities.

Tourette’s/Tic Disorders

In Tourette’s, the patient experiences recurrent motor and vocal tics (i.e. recurrent stereotyped movements or vocalizations) that cause significant distress or impairment.